July 7th, 2010

Loopster Live: The Psychedelic Furs at Warehouse Live

The Warehouse Live crowd for The Psychedelic Furs was easy to anticipate. Their hit “Pretty in Pink” inspired John Hughes’ 80’s classic and has created generations of fans of the band. From teen to 50-somethings, all were represented. This past Friday, some thinking them one-hit wonders heard the rest of The Psychedelic Furs’ catalog that has earned them critical success and influenced many.

Houston was the last stop of the North American Tour and the band showed the cohesiveness of touring. The Furs segued from one alt-rock hit to another as many younger faces realized they knew this song as well. Far from phoning it in, Richard Butler gave the songs their due and appeared to truly enjoy himself. The Furs managed to cover the hits while keeping a live edge to the songs that kept the show from feeling tracked or rote.

“Pretty in Pink” had the expected response and, thankfully, was reserved towards the end, but not kept as an encore. Butler kept talk to a minimum but was very gracious in trying to get down to eye-level repeatedly and reaching out to the crowd.

A Roxy Music cover was an interesting surprise and helped illustrate the challenge of defining The Psychedelic Furs sound.

She Wants Revenge opened and their post-punk sound brought elements of The Furs and Depeche Mode into play. The revival of 80’s new wave, post-punk continues. Their energy helped set the stage nicely and obviously deserved some credit for the crowd.

A big “thank you” to Alexander Flenner for volunteering to photograph and otherwise document the show. Check out the original photos on his Flickr Photostreamand follow him on Twitter @AlexanderF.